Patriotfiles and the Library of Congress

[David]

In accordance with the Patriot Files goal of collecting and preserving military history, I want to announce that the Patriot Files is now an official partner of the Library of Congress. We will be working to gather veterans interviews and archival material to be sent to and permanently archived by the Library of Congress.

At this stage we are considered a collecting partner. This level of partnership requires a minimum of 25 veterans interviews per year conducted and sent by the partner organization. I feel we should have no trouble meeting this goal.

There is also an archival partnership. This involves collecting materials for public display 16 hours a week in a location provided by the partner. We do have becoming an archival partner as an eventual goal. Right now we do not have the space though for the public display.

One of the main reasons we want to become an archival partner is because we have noticed a large number of people locally and nationally posing as 501c's and museums soliciting veterans for their material only to sell said materials at auction as military memorabilia becomes more widely desired. We have personally thwarted these efforts locally on several occasions by confronting the individuals involved and exposing them for what they were to those they sought to scam.

We have been asked in the past to accept delivery of veterans personal artifacts by a number of individuals but have always declined as we had no real plan for what to do with the items. From now on we will honor such requests and store the material appropriately until such time as we have access to a facility to display such material and have been accepted as an archival partner.

We have just about everything we need in place right now to begin this mission except a video camera to record interviews.

This is what we have so far:
1.Lighting (2 umbrellas and an overhead)
2.Backdrops (photo slate grey)
3.Digital still camera (Sony DSC-F828 for materials photography)
4.Tripod (Quantaray QSX 9001)
5.Outline material (provided by LOC)
6.Access to veterans locally of most eras (VVA and various local organizations)
7.Access to veterans Nationally of most eras (Family members and friends known in person and through Patriotfiles)
8.Volunteers to do the work (Bern and I)

I have already been in contact with the local VVA and several other organizations to locate interested parties and coordinate space to conduct the interviews. We do not have anything solid yet on locations but that should not be a problem.

For those interested that do not live in our location (San Diego, CA) there are two other options.
1.Written memoirs
2.Video interviews during our gatherings in other states (provided we have the means to attend)

For those interested in written memoirs please send me a PM with your phone number so we can talk about the process.

Ok this brings me to the last point of this post. As I said above we do not have a video camera to run these interviews yet. Many veterans have no desire or can not write a memoir for a number of reasons. We believe it is of the utmost importance for us to obtain this piece of equipment as it will prove to be the most convenient tool for all involved.

We have done a good deal of research on this topic and have come to the conclusion that it would be best to obtain a camera that complies to the emerging HD specifications that will soon become the norm as digital broadcast is standardized in 2006. We do not want to produce material that will look substandard a couple years from now. This will however place the cost of the camera out of our personal range. The camera we have decided will most fit the requirements of this project is the Sony HDR-FX-1. This camera retails for about $3700.00 on the Sony site but also sells for $2800.00 on reputable camera sites. This is the target we want to shoot for, $2800.00.

We are starting a fund to meet this goal through member contributions immediately and will post the progress in this thread.

Anyone contributing to this fund drive will be made mention of in the by-lines of the recordings made. I know this is a large goal and we have never attempted to do anything like this before but we believe it is for a very good cause (preservation of all of our stories at a national level) and serves the goals of this site and of the Library of Congress's program well.

Here are a few links relating to the above material:

1. Patriotfiles link at the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/vets/partners/california.html

2. Link to the project home page: http://www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.html

3. Link to the camera we would like to purchase with member donations, Sony HDR-FX1 HDV: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...o&Dept=cameras

4. Link to Patriotfiles donations page: http://www.patriotfiles.com/modules....ate&file=index

If you are unsure how to use the link above to donate please send me a PM with your phone number as I can take donation information on the phone.

Anyone wishing to speak to me in further detail about this project please send me a PM with a phone number and I will respond as soon as possible.


Goal: $2800.00

Collected so far: $1370.00 - 49% of target amount